All Things Considered, UConn Winning Fifth Final Four Is Worthy Of A Yawn

If you’re counting, UConn now owns as many national championships in college basketball as Duke and Indiana.

It just doesn’t feel like it.

First, UConn is no Duke or Indiana in the psyche of March Madness historians who always have visions of the two Coach Ks (Mike Krzyzewski for Duke and Bob Knight for Indiana) dancing in their heads.

Jim Calhoun? The one who is a Basketball Hall of Famer after he coached UConn to those opening three titles?

Eh.

At least compared to those Coach Ks.

You also can blame the lack of national buzz around UConn’s latest accomplishment on the uninspiring way the Huskies spent Monday night in Houston winning No. 5 for their trophy case. They bullied overmatched San Diego State at NRG Stadium during mostly a 76-59 snoozer of a victory to continue folks rushing toward their remote down the stretch of this year’s March Madness.

The general public can stomach only so many upsets by Fairleigh Dickinson and Furman. The same goes for having the first Final Four since 1970 with three first-time participants, including Florida Atlantic — wherever that is.

Then there was this: According to the American Gaming Association, 45 million Americans wagered an estimated $3.1 billion on the 2022 men’s NCAA basketball tournament. The numbers haven’t arrived for this year’s event, but you can (ahem) bet more than a few folks weren’t pleased with the absence this weekend of Duke, North Carolina, Kansas and other schools you’ve actually heard of.

It didn’t help matters that the title game featured a slew of missed shots, turnovers and ugliness in general.

San Diego State was the worst of the worst.

Have the Aztecs hit a jumper yet?

With much help from UConn’s suffocating defense, San Diego State spent much of the evening shooting less than 30% from the floor before the Aztecs finished at a slightly less pitiful 32%.

I mean, $1 billion a year for this?

That’s what the folks at CBS and Turner will continue to pay the NCAA through 2032 for the rights to show what is threatening to become an ugly run of mediocrity disguised as parity for just shy of forever.

Then again, maybe this was a fluke.

Maybe this wasn’t the culminative effect of one-and-dones (as in stars bolting for the NBA after a single college season), the transfer portal (as in little continuity on teams from year to year since guys can leave after a season for whatever reason) and AAU basketball (as in fundamentally challenged players everywhere).

The only thing UConn players know is that they went from unranked to start the season to evolving into the most dominant team in the 2023 men’s NCAA basketball tournament by clobbering everybody.

Whatever that means this year.

If nothing else, it means UConn was the most visible and the least flawed of the obscure teams along the way to plunging ratings for CBS and Turner Sports throughout March Madness.

“I’m a national champion, man. National champion. Nobody can take that away from me. Ever,” said UConn guard Jordan Hawkins, speaking for his teammates after he finished with 16 points against San Diego State. “Nobody can take that away from me. I love these guys to death. We work hard every single day. We deserve this, man. We really deserve it.”

Yes, the Huskies do. On defense, they rarely gave San Diego State players more than a few centimeters of space to hoist jumpers. Then, on offense, Tristen Newton and Adama Sanogo were rebounding machines (10 each). They also led all scorers with 19 and 17 points, respectively.

When San Diego State somehow closed the rout to 60-55 with barely five minutes left to play, Hawkins, Newton and Sanogo would have none of that.

“Coming into the game, we knew San Diego State was a good team,” said Sanogo, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player. “We were not surprised by their run. We knew they could make a run. We took a timeout and wanted to make sure they didn’t do the same thing again.”

They didn’t.

Another UConn run later, the two slaughters became official — the one on the court, and the other one in the TV ratings.